MEANING?
When I was in my senior year of college, one of the most
intriguing movies came out.
It was billed as an action movie… complete with guns,
science fiction & kung Fu. What made the movie fascinating was that it
really wasn’t about any of that!
It was really a movie about discovering the truth.
Discovering the real meaning behind their boring everyday lives.
Discovering that what Neo thought was “real,” was actually the biggest lie that
had ever overtaken humanity.
The Matrix movie, to this day, remains one of my
favorites. NOT because of the action movie that was far ahead of its time, BUT
because I believe there is a spiritual parallel to that story that all of us still
face today.
All of us are born with a deep need for meaning. We long
for it… crave it… and search for it in many different ways.
Most parents will try to tell us who we are… that we are
a loved baby and toddler… If we are lucky, we might end up with parents that
both stay married AND stay positive about us & our future… Some parents
tell us negatively who we are…
But most parents fall short… they can’t actually give us
the value we need for our lives… as hard as they try, our own identity must be
something that we discover and believe on our own.
Later in life we may try other things in hopes that they
give us value, destiny or purpose:
·
Grades… Sports…
The opposite sex
·
Jobs
or a fulfilling career
But I can tell you after 40+ years on this earth and 20+
years of pastoring people that none of these things work… maybe a quick fix but
they will leave you hollow:
·
What do you do when school is over? Even if you’re valedictorian or
graduate with honors & distinguishments from college… eventually you
probably realize that there’s always someone smarter.
·
What do you do when your body can’t play anymore? Even the greatest athletes retire…
most of them younger than I am now!
·
What about relationships? Even if you date and marry the perfect woman/man…
eventually they might let you down… you’ve set them up as your “fulfillment”
and they were never meant to be that for you.
·
Love your job? I think it’s good to enjoy your career… but most people I know think
retirement is better J …OR they come to the end of their lives with all the
regrets they have for the time they spent working… away from family… wondering
did I accomplish something.
·
All of these earthly pursuits will pass away. At the end of the day, they will not
last and they CANNOT give us what we so deeply desire - meaning, value,
destiny, identity and purpose… We want to know, “WHO AM I?”
THE TRUTH & The PROBLEM
You were only meant to
find meaning, destiny & purpose from ONE source.
You were literally created to be in relationship with the
God of the universe who loves you. You were made for more than earthly
accomplishments. You were made to partner with the Creator and King. He has
literally moved heaven and earth PLUS conquered hell and all of its
entanglements to make this relationship work.
When I first discovered in 1994 that God truly loved me AND
desired to be with me AND desired to empower AND
work through me… I was undone with how good His grace was… it was an amazing
& overwhelming experience to realize for the first time that God wanted me AND
wanted to do things with me!
But then something happened… I didn’t immediately become
perfect J. I realized that there was a journey of understanding
that I needed to go on.
And you know what? I tried to live this life without
the right tools!
·
I
tried to earn God’s love through memorizing the Bible
·
I
tried to pray harder every day
·
I
tried to out-serve and outwork everyone else
·
It
was a lot about me…
·
Before
Jesus… it was about me (grades, sports, girls, etc.)
·
After
I met Jesus… I made the mistake most of us make… it was still about ME.
The BIGGEST MISTAKES
we make are in our beliefs…
We believe lots of lies
about our lives and our circumstances. Lies that are meant to distract and
derail us from experiencing our meaning, our identity, our destiny, and our
purpose. These lies (much like the
MATRIX that Neo experienced) are so front and center… so prevalent… and
feel so “real” that we get “taken out” before we can even step into all that
God has for us.
Let me list a few of the lies
that we believe without even realizing it…
1)
We believe self-effort helps us.
2)
We believe what others say about us.
3)
We believe what we say about ourselves.
4)
We believe this is a natural battle (and not a spiritual one).
When we begin to believe these
lies about ourselves. We internalize them AND they blind us to the truth… we
end up creating our own MATRIX that keeps us from being Free.
BIBLE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpP1LH9tlY8
I’m trying to free your mind
Today, we want to do something
similar for you… we want to FREE YOUR MIND.
We want to talk about who you
really are… you may never have heard this… you may not believe it… actually
that doesn’t matter J
- this is who you REALLY ARE… the problem is not the truth… the problem is that
you don’t know it! STAGE Illustration
And this is not just an
intellectual exercise and this is not about your feelings, rather this is deep
core belief from the center of who you are.
You are FORGIVEN
(say 3x)
·
Ephesians 1
·
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished
upon us, in all wisdom and insight
You are SEALED
·
Ephesians 1:13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with
the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we
acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
·
Need a picture of a sealed scroll?
You are ELEVATED
·
Ephesians 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great
love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made
us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and
raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the
immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
You are a MASTERPIECE
·
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And
this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so
that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk
in them.
You are a NEW CREATION
·
Ephesians 4:23 and to be
renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after
the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
You are FILLED WITH LIGHT
·
Ephesians 5:8-10 8 for at
one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the
Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good
and right and true), 10 and try to
discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
You are…
·
filled with light
·
a new creation
·
God’s best painting
·
elevated to a higher place
·
sealed
·
and forgiven…
·
THAT is the TRUTH… and the TRUTH will set
you FREE!
ACTION
Paul concludes Ephesians with
this amazing talk about the spiritual battle that all of us are in (believers
AND non-believers alike) while on this earth… it’s a battle for:
·
Your truth
·
Your emotions
·
Your faith
·
Your thought
·
And your actions
Ephesians 6 is the culmination of
Paul’s arguments started in 1-5
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of
his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand
against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and
blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic
powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the
heavenly places.
We cannot take up the armor, face
our enemy, and STAND without first understanding who we are… how God sees us…
or we will fail in the battle without realizing it.
·
So, don’t get caught up too much in your “I’m a
bad person” thoughts
·
Realize this isn’t overconfidence when we
realize our identity
·
Rather this is the reality of what God Himself
has spoken over us
·
This is a journey of growing and learning God’s
truth
·
Before I knew Jesus, I thought one way
·
After my conversion, I still believed some lies
·
I had to reorient myself to what God says
·
I had to begin to believe who I was to get into
the fight
GOING FORWARD
For the next 5 weekends, we will
be looking at:
·
How do we combat the lies that we’ve lived with
for so long?
·
How do we protect our heart? Our emotions?
·
How do we have faith in the midst of our life’s
struggles?
·
How do we combat difficult thought processes?
·
How do we go on the offense?
Wrap it up
·
Today, we want you to just begin to believe
·
Begin to believe the truth that God has spoken
over your lives
You are…
·
filled with light… a new creation… God’s best painting
·
elevated to a higher place… sealed and forgiven…
·
THAT is the TRUTH… and the TRUTH will set
you FREE!
·
Pray over everyone… talk about the response of
people’s hearts.
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